Aurobindo Pharma has received US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approval to manufacture and market Voriconazole tablets (50 mg and 200 mg) that are used to treat fungal infections. The company is expected to launch the product by March. The approved Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) is bio-equivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug product VFEND tablets of PF Prism C.V.

For the 12 months ending November 2015, the product had an estimated market size of $103 million. This is the 59th ANDA to be approved out of Aurobindo Pharma’s Unit VII formulation facility in Hyderabad for manufacturing oral non-antibiotic products. The company now has a total of 233 ANDA approvals from USFDA.

 Did You Know??? 

• Fungi feed on living or dead organisms by making them rot. Fungi are visible only when spore-bearing fruiting bodies form.
• They produce long, slender threads called hyphae that spread through their food. The hyphae release enzymes that break down the food into substances that the fungi can easily absorb.
• Saprophytic Fungi are the primary agents responsible for the bio-degradation of plants and woody debris (cellulose and lignified cellulose).
• There are a number of important antibiotics produced industrially by fungal fermentation for use as medicines in humans and animals. These include penicillin by Penicillium chrysogenum, cephalosporin by Acremonium (Cephalosporium), griseofulvin by Penicillium griseofulvin etc.
• Toadstools are brightly colored and poisonous to eat, but mushrooms are usually edible and dull in color.
• Fungi called molds produce the woolly or furry growths found on rotting foods, such as bread and fruit.